Past research on the disproportionality of pollution suggests a small subset of a sector's facilities often produces the lion's share of toxic emissions. Here we extend this idea to the world's electricity sectors by calculating national-level disproportionality Gini coefficients for plant-level carbon emissions in 161 nations based on data from 19,941 fossil-fuel burning power plants. We also ...

Combustion-derived black carbon (BC) aerosols accelerate glacier melting in the Himalayas and in Tibet (the Third Pole (TP)), thereby limiting the sustainable freshwater supplies for billions of people. However, the sources of BC reaching the TP remain uncertain, hindering both process understanding and efficient mitigation. Here we present the source-diagnostic Δ(14)C/δ(13)C compositions of BC...

Petroleum prices are increasing day by day and for fueling we are completely dependent on the fossil fuels. Sources of fossil fuels are depleting continuously due to the increasing demand of petroleum products. Renewable carbon neutral transport fuels are necessary for environmental and economic sustainability. There are many options in this area, but unlike solar, nuclear, and fossil fuels, bi...

We present a concept for a small satellite mission to make systematic, global observations of night-time lights with spatial resolution suitable for discerning the extent, type and density of human settlements. The observations will also allow better understanding of fine scale fossil fuel CO2 emission distribution. The NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey recommends more focus on direct observati...

As we transition from fossil fuel reliance to a new energy future, innovative microbial biotechnologies may offer new routes to maximize recovery from conventional and unconventional energy assets; as well as contributing to reduced emission pathways and new technologies for carbon capture and utilization. Here we discuss the role of microbiology in petroleum biotechnologies in relation to addr...

Bioresources are used in different production systems as materials as well as energy carriers. The same is true for fossil fuel resources. This study explored whether preferential resource usages exist, using a building insulation system as an example, with regard to the following sustainability criteria: climate impact, land, and fossil fuel demand. We considered the complete life cycle in a l...

The vast majority of the world's fossil fuel trace gas emission sources can be detected and mapped using nighttime low light imaging data from the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). This includes human settlements, industrial and commercial facilities, and gas flares. Nocturnal lighting could be regarded as one of the defining featu...

[1] Long-term atmospheric CO2 observations are used to quantify fossil fuel-derived CO2 concentrations at a regional polluted site, and at a continental mountain station in southwest Germany. Fossil fuel CO2 emission rates for the relevant catchment areas are obtained by applying the Radon-Tracer-Method. They compare well with statistical emissions inventories but reveal a larger seasonality th...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of changes in fuel prices and fuel intensity (i.e. liters of fuel used per 100 kilometers) on overall fuel (gasoline and diesel) consumption and on the demand for vehicle km driven in car passenger transport. This is important for deriving effective policy portfolios consisting of fuel taxes and technical standards such as fuel intensity mand...